The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1887-02-04

LABoRERs' COTTAGES IN PULLMAN.
That Pullman has done his best to secure
for his tenants every one of these grandly
planned advantages must be apparent to all
who have studied Pullman town as it stands.
or who have read the description of it which
have enteavorcd TO give in the two letters
preceding this one IL he has failed, it is not
the fault of his architect, who it seems, long
ago thought Of everything, nor yet the fault
af the Pullman company as an employer, for
it has found steady employment at good
wages for all. ss ,..s ...zs.r, -
Pulman's workers do not carry their
lunches in dinner pals All go home to the
midday meal. It is high noon. The hoarse
whistle cries brief truce to work i'm the
shops. Twenty five hundred men are out of
doors, walking rapidly down street and beu-
levard to dinner at tables waiting in some
800 houses. At 12:45 the men return. The
quarter of an hour saved daily, with the half
hour in the morning before o'clock, aggre-
gate enough in the week to give the men a
Saturday half holiday The shops are busy
again, the thousand children-tidy, bright
Children too-have returned to school. and
the visitor may patrol the clean, wellpaved
streets, almost thinking himself in a suburb
inhabited by the rich. Suppose you ring at
the front door Of one of the houses, and ask
to be shown the home of Pullman laborer.
Try this cottage, for instance. 1t is the stand
ard two story and basement brick The fam
lily living here pay SIG month rent.
They have five rooms and a dry cement floor
basement. The water tax is included i'm the
rent. The gas is S1.50 thousand feet. No
one is prohibited sub-letting rooms or parts
Of houses. IL a man does not wish to nav
hSa, toix, n
fiat cottage for Sl2, q four room fiat for $40.
or even another style of hat-good for
small fainily-for Sc. The average monthly
rental paid by workingmen throughout the
town is but So. SO per room.
+ The writer has made unexpected calls upon
dozens of Pullman householders, selected at
random. In only one or two did he find the
odors arising from negligent housewifery.
In only one instance was the amount of the
rent. the accommodations afforded or the
company's treatment of its tenants COM
planned OF. In nearly all of the houses the
interiors were cozy, home like, comfortable.
with books and plants, artistic gas fixtures,
bright, warm colors IN carpet and papering. |
an organ or piano, and plenty of sunlight. |
Pnllman is not a. paradise. Its dwellers |
must work, and they must pay their rent, and |
the mere laborers must be satisfied with mar /
row rooms and limited bills of fare Tlsre |
are dissatisfied ones, of course, who growl at
this or that, and try to make themselves and
others believe that the whole idea is mis-
take and all the inhabitants its victims. But
that the people are thrifty Is as apparent in
che dress as III the homes. In the stores as IN I
the savings banks, where there are 700 ae.
counts, averaging more than 5000 each. The +
average wage earning per annum is S576. 1
I The cardinal feature of the Pullman idea is
central control II will build my working
men model city" said Pullman. aand viii +
manage it for them. 2 Pullman is, indeed,
master. Ii be chose he could be despot, to +
the extent of refusing o man habitation, f
or, what IS quite as much to the purpose,
employment 1t has been said that every
man m the place looks as if he was like the
bed linen used IN the sleeping cars with the
word Pullman branded on his back. It
has also been said that PuIlman's employees
are compelled TO purchase where and of
whom Pullman wishes them to purchase, and 4
Lhat the rules governing the department. Of
we tenants are so severe that man lllay not
sle m bis own dooryard Ia his shirt sleeves
and smoke pipe. These are misrepresenta-
IONS There Is no despotism in Pullman.
buying and selling Is as free as IN any town, B